Description:  The American Avocet is a shore bird related to the sandpipers and is often seen with them. They are a striking bird with mostly white plumage with black stripes. This is a large slender bird with long legs. During breeding season, March-August, they are a buffy brown from the neck up. During the non-breeding season, they are whitish from the neck up. What makes them easily distinguishable though is their long thin upturned bill.

Habitat:  They like shallow ponds, marshes and mud flats where they can forage with their long bills.

Diet:  They feed mostly on aquatic prey and vegetation by sweeping their bill back and forth feeling for their food. 

Breeding:  These birds are monogamous and loosely colonial. The female lays 3-5 eggs into a nest hidden near brush or reeds. The nest may be on sand, rocks or mud and lined with dry grass or mud chips. The male incubates for the first 8 days and the female for the next 16 days.

Range:  They range from the Midwest down into Mexico where they spend the winter.